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Six tactics for reducing cart abandonment rates

Online retail is rapidly expanding and is expected to become a $1.5 trillion industry this year.

Cart abandonment is cutting into profits for retailers, as 68% of carts are left behind before the purchase is complete.

While retailers can do little about some of the motives, they can ensure that the abandonment rates are kept to a minimum.

Here's how...

Cart abandonment is an all too familiar problem for online retailers worldwide. Shoppers visit their site, look around, add a few products to their cart, and then leave without completing their purchase.

Some 75% of abandoners return and are therefore more likely to complete their transaction. Returning is a good sign because shoppers who have abandoned their carts more than once have a 48% rate of being recovered, compared to 18% of first time abandoners.

There are myriad reasons why 68% of shoppers abandon their carts. Their rationale for leaving might be complex, but the impact is not.

Global retailers are losing $3 trillion in sales each year from cart abandonment alone. If retailers are able to make check out secure, consistent, and appealing, then they can convert warm leads into customers.

Recapturing buyers is essential because once you’ve got them, it’s easier to get them to make future purchases. Existing customers are up to 14 times more likely to make another purchase, when compared to first time buyers.

On average they also spend more than twice what new customers do.

Price sensitivity is common among consumers, so it makes sense that three out of the top five reasons for cart abandonment are price related.

Here are our top strategies for preventing and reducing cart abandonment:

Comments (10)

Most of the time I abandon a cart it's because the only way to find out the cost of delivery was to get to the checkout.

over 3 years ago

Josh Gill, Digital Marketing Executive at Mediademon

Same as David ^ - couldn't agree more with #2!

Also think #5 is a screamer nowadays - when it's so easy for a customer to compare prices and leave a site with the click of a mouse, you've got to make things as seamless and simple as possible during the checkout process.

Finally, if your recovery program includes a significant offer - for example you normally ask shoppers to pay for shipping but it's offered free in your abandonment recovery email - then you are driving people to abandon rather than purchase immediately, complicating the buying process, and losing a proportion of sales.
http://www.triggeredmessaging.com/blog/why-incentives-dont-work

over 3 years ago

Steve

I'm wondering if anyone saw the recent Wall Street Journal article about StubHub's decision to include its fees upfront in its pricing. It's somewhat analogous to the decision to display shipping prices upfront. The interesting thing is that StubHub says it led to lower conversion rates because their competitors' prices appear lower.

Here's the pertinent line from the article that appears to go against conventional wisdom about being honest:

"[N]ow that StubHub's listed prices include the fees, they appear more expensive, and sales have fallen as fans gravitate to sites that list lower base prices and hide fees, the company said."

@Steve - Very interesting example. That WSJ link is paywalled, so here's one that's not.

"Three months after StubHub began including all of its fees in the ticket price, sales have slumped. The same thing happened following J.C. Penney’s short-lived experiment with “honest pricing.” Honesty, it seems, does not pay."

At the risk of self promotion I wanted to mention http://www.formisimo.com as we're a form and checkout analytics startup that helps with Step 5 (Redesign checkout process).

It's rare that a check-out process can't be improved. There's a dangerous belief that the key end point in most e-commerce visitor journeys is working fine, and can't be bettered.

Al

over 2 years ago

Brian Childs, retired at Ashnook Plants

First, I cannot understand how this effects profits? Surely the retailer does not count the item as sold and removed from stock until it's paid for.
Second, I often go to a site I use a lot and put things in the basket that I want to buy not yet and usually go back later to add things and then pay for them. Perhaps they need a 'will buy later' or 'purchasing list' for this activity.

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